


That makes you the ace, right?

by basicallyiwriteshit



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Other, smol babies growing up, tsukkiyama - Freeform, yamatsukki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 22:31:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5266205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/basicallyiwriteshit/pseuds/basicallyiwriteshit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“So that makes you the ace, right?” </p><p>Akiteru freezes on the spot, catching the volleyball he’d been tossing at the wall. He turns to Kei, and smiles. “Yep! I’m the ace!”</p><p>Aka how everything went down, and how they resolved it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That makes you the ace, right?

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been waiting until the ep came out to post this anD NoW I CAN OH GOD I LOVE P AI N.

“So that makes you the ace, right?” 

Akiteru freezes on the spot, catching the volleyball he’d been tossing at the wall. He turns to Kei, and smiles. “Yep! I’m the ace!”

As Akiteru says this, though, he knows it’s not true. There was a second year...A really talented second year who was out to claim that title, and there was no way he could match that talent. Not in a million years. But he could at least try for starter. 

That would make Kei happy, right?

-

“There’s this...kid...on my volleyball team.”

“Oh? Is someone bullying you, Kei?” 

“No!” Kei shoots up from where he sits on the ground immediately. “No way! I wouldn’t let that happen. But... people bully him, nii-chan. Or-- they did. Now he hangs around me, and they leave him alone. I’m glad.” Kei’s voice is soft as he glares at the ground as if it’s cast a personal offense against him. Akiteru finds it adorable. “I...I want to bring him over...For a sleep over.”

“Really? That’s great!” Kei had a friend. One he wanted to bring over! “And will your nii-chan get to meet this friend of yours?”

Kei nods. “That’s one of the reasons why I want to bring him over! We talk about you all the time!”

“Really?” Akiteru isn’t really surprised. He’s known Kei looks up to him. “And what;s the other reason?”

“Because...he’s never had a sleepover before. And I really want to-- Aki-nii, you should have seen the way his face lit up when I asked him over. He said he’d never been asked to have a sleepover before!”

“Really?” The poor kid sounded exactly like someone Kei would befriend. 

An outcast for an outcast.

-

“Aki-nii!” Kei comes rushing into his bedroom, grinning. “Aki-nii, I want you to meet--” Kei turns to see empty space next to him, and huffs. “Yamaguchi! Come on!”

“S-- sorry, Tsukki,” A small voice squeaks from the hall, and a someone -- Yamaguchi -- steps inside, hunched in on himself shyly. Akiteru has to do a double take when he sees Yamaguchi. 

He’s...tiny. Even standing as tall as he can, he’s almost half of Kei, and he looks more like a six year old than a ten year old.

He smiles at Yamaguchi, who hides behind Kei. 

“It’s ok, Yamaguchi, he won’t bite!” 

“H- hello, Ts-- Tsukishi- shima-san...” Tadashi says. 

“You can call me Aki-nii!” Akiteru says, grinning, and Kei flushes when Yamaguchi squeaks in -- embarrassment? Fear? 

“Let’s go, Tadashi, I-- I have a game we can play, if you want.” 

“O- ok..”

Kei and -- Tadashi, Akiteru liked the name -- leave, Kei gripping Tadashi’s hand tightly the whole time. Akiteru can’t help but think Tadashi will be good for Kei. 

He’d have to work on breaking him out of his shell, though. 

-

Akiteru likes Tadashi. He’s nice enough, and never yells. Kei loves him. Akiteru can tell. He acts so subtly different around Tadashi, like how he speaks softer, as if not to startle the skittish younger boym how he uses less sudden movement, to keep Tadashi’s flinching to a minimum. 

Tadashi eventually stops stuttering as much. It occurs to Akiteru that he almost never stutters when he speaks to Kei, and it brings a soft smile to his lips. 

On days Kei and Tadashi sleep over, Akiteru picks them up from school, because, no matter how patient their mother is, she has trouble understanding Tadashi’s stutters. Akiteru likes those days, because he gets to see the both of them growing in the subtlest ways. People say goodbye to Kei when he leaves, and, usually, he would ignore them and keep walking to the car, but now-- 

Now he sees Kei smile as he waves his classmates goodbye, he sees Tadashi flash a small smile when the same person recognizes he’s there and gives him a polite farewell as well. He doesn’t blush as deeply as he did when they first started this. 

“Hey Kei! Tadashi!”

“Hello, Aki-nii!”

“Hey nii-chan!” 

“You two have a match tomorrow, right? Do I get to watch?”

“Hm...” Kei puffs out his cheeks. “Nope! You’ll make us nervous!”

Kei’s words cut through Akiteru like a knife. He’s using his words against him. 

“Ah, come on, Kei,” He whines, starting up the car. “Let your big brother come to your game...”

“The next one,” Kei says, “This is Yamaguchi’s first game, and he’s worried enough without Karasuno’s ace coming to watch us. Ok?”

Those words make him even more sick. “Ok, ok. How was school today?”

-

The next game, Akiteru is allowed to go. He needs to help Kei with receives again. And Tadashi too. 

-

Akiteru watches with wide eyes across the court to the other set of bleachers. Kei is here. Tadashi is here. And he’s not on the court. 

He sees Kei mutter something, and Tadashi flinch. Then he grabs Tadashi’s hand and stalks off. 

“Kei...”

“What?” One of his team mates looks at him questioningly. 

“I-- I have to go. I’ll be right back.” He hands off his megaphones and rushes off to find Kei. They’re almost out the door when he reaches them, breathing hard. “Kei! Tadashi!”

Kei doesn’t stop. Tadashi looks over his shoulder as Kei drags him through the big glass doors, tears in his eyes. 

“Kei!”

He doesn’t go back to the game. He doesn’t celebrate when his teammates find him in the bathroom with an ‘upset stomach’ and tell him they’ve won. They’re going to nationals, but, of course, Akiteru isn’t going to play, so why does it matter?

-

When Akiteru gets home, Kei has locked himself and Tadashi in his bedroom, and his mother and father look at him with pity, but don’t say anything about it. 

At dinner time, their mother brings Kei and Tadashi their food because Kei refuses to come out of his room and won’t let Tadashi leave him alone. 

-

Akiteru shifts nervously against the hood of the car. It’s the first time since the match he’s had to pick Kei up from school. He feels sick. Kei hasn’t spoken to him more than necessary, he’s stopped greeting him at the door asking how practice was, or if he was going to go on a run after dinner and it he could go with. 

The clock on his phone says it’s seven after four. Seven minutes past when practice ends. Children have been filing out of the gym slowly since the clock hit four, so he’s positive they weren’t held beck to be lectured. Where is Kei?..and where is Tadashi?..

Akiteru is about to give up and go in to get Kei when Tadashi pushes the far-too-large-for-him gym doors open and steps out. He’s alone. 

“Ah, Tadashi!” Akiteru calls, and Tadashi jumps, head shooting up to look around. When he sees it’s only Akiteru, he relaxes, but only for a second. He tenses up immediatedly, making his way towards him with his eyes trailed to the ground. 

“Ak- kiteru-k- kun,” He mumbles in greeting, fiddling with his fingers. His stutter was worse. That meant he was nervous. 

“Tadashi, how was school today?”

“I- It was--” Tadashi’s face brightens a moment, before falling yet again. “I-- mean...Ts- Tsukki says I’m n-- not allowed to t- talk to y- you...”

“W- what?” Akiteru’s heart stops. Kei had said that? “Why’s that, Tadashi?”

“Ts- Tsukki says you lie...” Tadashi says quietly. “Do y- you li- lie, Aki-n- nii?” 

Like a punch to the face. 

“I--”

“Yamaguchi,”

“A-- ah. Tsukki, h- hi...”

“Yeah.” 

“Kei! How was your day?” Tadashi is stuttering more, why s that? Did another student rough him up or was that my fault? 

Kei just ignores Akiteru and climbs in the back of the car, dragging Tadashi in with him. 

-

“You and Tadashi start school tomorrow,” Akiteru comments as their eating, and Kei stops mid-bite to stare at him. 

“Yeah...” They were on speaking terms, but not very good ones despite the time given to heal. “Yamaguchi’s going to be in the same class as me this year. So I can take care of him better this year.” 

Their mother coos at this. She thinks his relationship with Tadashi is adorable, and Akiteru has to agree. 

“That’s good. Where are you two going?” He hadn’t even known they were going to the same school, let alone they were going to be in the same class. He was a horrible brother. 

“Karasuno.”

Akiteru’s silverware clatters onto his plate, and their mother chastises him. 

“Sorry-- uh, can I be excused? I’m full.”

His mother gives him a raised eyebrow, but allows him to leave. 

As his bedroom door shuts, Akiteru feels tears he didn’t know were forming spill onto his face. 

Karasuno. Of course he’d go there. 

-

"Kei, how was practice today?” A sense of Déja vous washes over Akiteru as he rushes to greet his younger brother at the door, grin wide on his face. “Did you have fun? Are you enjoying your new teammates? How about Tadashi? Is he doing ok? How’s his stutter?”

“Akiteru, you saw him yesterday,” Kei groans, sliding off his shoes and brushing past him on his way inside. “Everything’s the same as last time you asked. Which, again, was yesterday.”

“Heh, sorry, I just want to make sure you’re ok with...You’re fitting in, right?”

“Yes,” Kei groans. "Tell mom I’m not going to eat, ok? I ate at Tadashi’s when we did our homework together.”

Akiteru doesn’t mention how he just called Tadashi his given name, opting to keep to himself if he ever wanted to get on Kei’s good side again. “Roger!” He salutes, and mock-marches in the direction of the kitchen whilst Kei stalks off to his bedroom. 

-

“Hey, Tadashi! I haven’t seen you in a while!” 

“A-- Aki- nii, hi,” Tadashi smiles shyly at Akiteru. “It has been a while! Tsukki and I have been busy with practice, and-- and I do extra practice with an old alumni of Karasuno...” 

Tadashi says the last part quietly, like the topic was a sensitive one, and he sees why. Upon hearing Tadashi’s words, Kei glares in their direction and calls Tadashi. 

“C- coming, Tsukki!”

Akiteru watches as Tadashi trails Kei down the hall and up the stairs to his bedroom. He still had a bit of a stutter. Or maybe that was just around him. 

-

“Oh, Kei, are you getting ready for your date with Tadashi?” Their father’s words stop Akiteru’s movements, and he nearly drops his cup of hot chocolate. 

“Yeah.”

“What?” 

“What?” Kei asks, frustrated, as he fixes his button up. 

“You and Tadashi are dating?”

“For like two months now,” Kei says. Two months? And he hadn’t known about it? “...Openly.” 

That means they’ve been dating before that. How had Akiteru not noticed? He should have been the first to know. 

“Oh. I didn’t know!”

“Because I didn’t tell you.”

Right. Because they still weren’t ok. 

-

“Kei, we need to talk. Like, really talk.”

“About?..”

“I think you know what.” Akiteru’s voice is sharp enough to make Tadashi squeak in fear. Kei glares at him. “Sorry. Sorry, just-- Kei, we can’t tip-toe around this any longer. It’s getting ridiculous.”

“I’ll tip-toe around things as much as I want, thank you very much,” 

“Like you tip-toed around telling me you and Tadashi were together? Which, I very much support, by the way.”

“I- I’ll just...go in the-- the other room...” Tadashi mumbles, standing and rushing to the door. He takes one last peek over his shoulder before the door shuts behind him, and Akiteru sees worry in his eyes, spread across his features. 

“Go away.” Kei says. 

“No.”

“Why? So we can ‘talk’ about how you lied to me about being the ace and how you ‘didn’t mean to’ and you ‘really thought’ and-- fuck,”Kei wipes furiously at his eyes under his glasses. “I don’t want to hear it, so just go away and send Tadashi back in.”

“No.” Akiteru says again, crossing the room and sitting stubbornly on Kei’s desk chair. Kei, from his bed, glares at him weakly. “I need you to at least listen to me. This has gone on for too long, I should have spoken to you right away about it, and I’m sorry. Ok? I’m sorry. I was wrong to lie to you, but you looked up to me, Kei. I just thought I could make you proud.” 

“Yeah, sure.” Kei scoffs. 

“Kei--”

“You should have known that I would have been proud of you if you hadn’t lied to me,” Kei snaps, “There. Are you happy?”

Akiteru’s eyes widen. “Kei..” 

“If you hadn’t lied.”

“...Yeah...” Yeah, of course. 

“I thought the world of you, Akiteru. Just because you weren’t playing volleyball doesn’t mean I would have hated you.” Kei takes a shuddering breath. 

“Kei...” Akiteru feels tears start to well up. “Kei, I’m sorry... I just wanted to make you proud. I’m sorry.” 

“I know you are.”

“Are you mad at me?”

“I’m only mad at how long it took you to tell the truth.” 

“Aww, come here!” Akiteu launches himself at Kei, and gives him a noogie. “I love you, Kei!” 

“Oi! Quit it!” Kei laughs, “Glasses! Glasses, nii-chan!”

“Nope! Not until you say you love your big brother back!”

“Never! Tadashi! Help! He’s attacking me!” Kei yells, still giggling, and Akiteru hears Tadashi rush to the Kei’s bedroom. 

“Tsukki? What’s going on?” 

“He’s a monster, Tadashi, he’s attacking me with noogies!” Akiteru says, mocking Kei’s voice. 

“Hey, my voice doesn’t sound like that!”

“My voice doesn’t sound like that!”

“Aki-nii,” Tadashi whines, sounding nervous, “Don’t hurt him,” 

“Don’t worry, Tadashi, this is all fun,” Akiteru smiles brightly at his brother’s worried boyfriend. He stops noogie-ing Kei, instead taking him in a tight hug. Kei hugs back, still catching his breath from trying to escape. 

“...Ok...” Tadashi looks like he’s about to leave again when Akiteru calls out. 

“Tadashi! Come join us!”

Tadashi looks at the two brothers hesitantly, before taking a few careful steps towards them. When he’s close enough, Akiteru catches him by the wrist and pulls him in against Kei, wrapping his arms around the both of them the best he can. 

Maybe things would go back to how they were now. Akiteru wouldn’t mind one bit if it did, but-- 

“I love you two...” Kei mumbles into the hug. “I love you two.”

Then again, maybe he didn’t. Kei was grown up, now, and he was happy. That’s all he could have asked for.


End file.
